Help with air layering

[SuperWeed]

Hey Sound, that is really well done!

For a while (2014) I was air layering to build canopies for my dtw ppk:



The plant in the very front (its hard to see), all you see is the trunk, laying down. But she is really that whole table. This was easier than a scrogged production mother, because I kept making a mess. LOL

Good looking grow!

 

[Drop That Sound]

Update: Sorry haven't got back lately, my ex sent the Popo's to do do a welfare check over a family law civil matter i'm dealing with, and of course thinks I have a large scale operation so she told them that too! Needless to say I sent them right back on down the road with no consent to search. Right now I basically have 1 plant still, imagine that! All the layers, minus the 2 that just got adopted, are potted up and still attached to mom (no pun intended) and doing great!

So I have an appointment to renew my medical card today, something I haven't really wanted to do with the new laws around here.. but forced too now in case they come back. I will refuse to sign the registry anyways and only be able to have 4 plants instead of 6 or more if I did. Ive heard of people going down because their plants are too big so I will have another medical patient come adopt the remaining air layer clones unfortunately, sad because they are huuuuuge!. I think the one plant should be fine but might totally shut down anyway we'll see how it pan's out. Sucks when you have a child with someone who has an addiction to other thing's and try's to take you down with them when fighting for your child and being a good dad. My kids needs will always come before anything including my beloved plants.

Otherwise it's been a complete success and 100% so far despite a bad winter cold spell, having to go to court, fluctuating temps and super low humidity levels from the heaters running.

Here was some pics from the same night as my last post, how I started to do things for the medium sized ones. Used 3/4 gallon pots on the 2 biggest, and had one more bubbling in a DWC setup that I killed just in case

 

[SuperWeed]

Update: Sorry haven't got back lately, my ex sent the Popo's to do do a welfare check over a family law civil matter i'm dealing with, and of course thinks I have a large scale operation so she told them that too! Needless to say I sent them right back on down the road with no consent to search. Right now I basically have 1 plant still, imagine that! All the layers, minus the 2 that just got adopted, are potted up and still attached to mom (no pun intended) and doing great!

So I have an appointment to renew my medical card today, something I haven't really wanted to do with the new laws around here.. but forced too now in case they come back. I will refuse to sign the registry anyways and only be able to have 4 plants instead of 6 or more if I did. Ive heard of people going down because their plants are too big so I will have another medical patient come adopt the remaining air layer clones unfortunately, sad because they are huuuuuge!. I think the one plant should be fine but might totally shut down anyway we'll see how it pan's out. Sucks when you have a child with someone who has an addiction to other thing's and try's to take you down with them when fighting for your child and being a good dad. My kids needs will always come before anything including my beloved plants.

Otherwise it's been a complete success and 100% so far despite a bad winter cold spell, having to go to court, fluctuating temps and super low humidity levels from the heaters running.

Here was some pics from the same night as my last post, how I started to do things for the medium sized ones. Used 3/4 gallon pots on the 2 biggest, and had one more bubbling in a DWC setup that I killed just in case

Genius.

 

[russej05]

Nice Plants.

 

[Drop That Sound]

Thanks Russ, every thing went smooth did not have any problems with air layering at all, except the above post I made, and having to re-pot them all again temporarily with extra coco while still on the plant. Watering 2.5 ft tall bushes in dinky solo cups 2-3 times a day can be a pain lol, but could have saved my ass big time. I mean seriously, everyone talks about plant numbers being a benefit of this, and that was put to the test right away. Took the edge off my situation, which is a lot better now!

 

[Drop That Sound]

Update: I have found that just cutting and transferring the freshly rooted large air layers straight to DWC without waiting for a bigger root ball in coco to work awesome, the leaves never droop even without covering the plant with garbage bags that way.

Same with the more rooted out ones transplanted into coco 1 gal pots, directly from the solo cups, they all show no signs of wilting or stress.

The only time I had a plant or 2 start to wilt is because I almost split off a few of the air layers branches below the cups from moving them so much when watering. They perked right back up though and grew roots even faster when I got to them some water and feed. had to cut them by the time just a sliver of skin was holding them on mom.

All in all I have no doubt that from now on, going straight into a 3.75 inch net cup and then a DWC bucket, after my 3-way root riot method (the only way I will go from now one) shows roots, will work 100%! Even on the biggest clones with just a few roots. I'm talking .5 to 1+ inch stalks even

Many thanks to everyone on ICMag, that ever took the time to teach about air layering, I can clone out full sized plants like a boss now!

 

[Big CLones]

Great work....funny thing..... larger air layers are actually easier to do than small ones....

Its just much easier to ring the air layer...

 

[Big CLones]

Im in michigan....if you are doing air layering within the state..... the new law has a nasty surprise.....

(p) “Plant” means any living organism that produces its own food through photosynthesis and has observable root formation or is in growth material.

This was a major change recently..... see the or part....

My reading says this means that a cutting as soon as its put in medium is a plant....the same would apply to an air layer....

Now IMO there is no advantage to airlayering over cloning..... I just got rid of my air layers and am now going back to standard cloning....

c'est la vie....

If you are in another state ....read the laws carefully...... I just noticed this change almost by accident.... Unless Im mistaken this became law in december...

 

[Drop That Sound]

Thanks for the heads up, I will look up my state, although I feel one could challenge the law. Maybe it would be wise to consult a lawyer on the matter, before completely giving up.

It does says "plant" not "plant(s)", though that is basically what it is saying..or is it? damn.

But if it doesn't say "root formation(S)" that that means that it isn't a "plant" unless it has air layers.. am I correct?

I feel that the plant with air layers is one organism, the only thing I really worried about is if they chop the plant up for evidence, they are crooked that way.

Say that you used DWC with water instead of another medium to root the layers(one of my ideas that seems to work great), and without the secret pass code to enter the door to the room, an alarm sets off a motorized spindle that rips the mini containers away with strings to expose the roots with NO extra medium..

 

[Drop That Sound]

Also, what if you left just a small piece of skin connecting the air layer to the mom, then the air layers are still receiving there food from mom, and are still one plant with visible roots in growth medium.

Trying to wrap my head around it and it only seems as if the bark was completely taken away (not allowing food just water) that it would be more than one plant.

 

[earthwyrms]

is air layering possible in flowering, so you can reveg the clones?

 

[Drop That Sound]

I don't see why not, I know that clones can be successfully taken during flower. Earlier the better. Would be a good way to get rid of the stragglers down under the canopy instead of just removing them, which is usually a good thing anyway.

I haven't tried it myself but I would trust air layering over taking a cutting to possibly save a strain any day!

I've even considered leaving potted or mini aero/hydroponic air layers attached to the plant throughout flowering to see if it supercharges the bud sites by having 2 root systems, etc.

Imagine having 1 big plant that has 5-10 different root systems besides the main one, all with different mediums, with different combinations of nutrients as well! Haha of course 1 of them would be a layer dipped into a gold fish bowl for some aquaponic action

( I know I know sounds crazy when you could just have that many plants. Mad science for the win!)

 

[120Octane]

Bump

 

[thenewstyle]

I don't see why not, I know that clones can be successfully taken during flower. Earlier the better. Would be a good way to get rid of the stragglers down under the canopy instead of just removing them, which is usually a good thing anyway.

I haven't tried it myself but I would trust air layering over taking a cutting to possibly save a strain any day!

I've even considered leaving potted or mini aero/hydroponic air layers attached to the plant throughout flowering to see if it supercharges the bud sites by having 2 root systems, etc.

Imagine having 1 big plant that has 5-10 different root systems besides the main one, all with different mediums, with different combinations of nutrients as well! Haha of course 1 of them would be a layer dipped into a gold fish bowl for some aquaponic action

( I know I know sounds crazy when you could just have that many plants. Mad science for the win!)

Have you ever tried the 2 root system plant before? Sounds like a sweet side by side needs to be done

 

[HuffnPufferfish]

Thanks for the heads up, I will look up my state, although I feel one could challenge the law. Maybe it would be wise to consult a lawyer on the matter, before completely giving up.

It does says "plant" not "plant(s)", though that is basically what it is saying..or is it? damn.

But if it doesn't say "root formation(S)" that that means that it isn't a "plant" unless it has air layers.. am I correct?

I feel that the plant with air layers is one organism, the only thing I really worried about is if they chop the plant up for evidence, they are crooked that way.

its not open to interpretation, sorry

 

[Drop That Sound]

Have you ever tried the 2 root system plant before? Sounds like a sweet side by side needs to be done

Good question! Actually I currently have some larger branches air layered, that have smaller air layers hooked to it. Essentially I will have a 3 root system plant if I cut the biggest branch off one first.. technically speaking that is

 

[Drop That Sound]

Guys & gals, I am back to air layering out another over grown mother plant. This time more heavily. No plans to flower her.

I am using the small grodan rock wool starter plugs from the slab, un-soaked or PH'ed, and simply rolled up in plastic wrap, no tape or twisties.

Same air layering methods as before, Injections with a 10ml syringe as usual.

The fact they initially hold a lot more water has me slightly concerned, i'm not a RW grower. I saturated them until in dripped from the wrap, about 25ml of tap water (per cube, bigger clones have extra cubes). This is much more than rooter plugs hold, which can be a pain as they dry quickly.

Hopefully it turns out to be more beneficial using rockwool in the coming week, meaning less injections when they start to root. I will start lightly feeding when the time comes, not to worried about the condition of the RW cubes as the roots will soon be hitting a nice bubble spa. Let me know if it would be best to keep them damp, or wet?.. if anyone knows.

Potting the layers up in coco before cutting was nice but it made a big mess and invited gnats into the moms net pot and room last time around. Probably my fault for not nuking it first... or did I? Anyway's that's probably not gonna happen again anytime soon.

I plan to transplant them immediately into DWC/AERO totes after cutting, with plastic bag humidity domes until they can self support with new roots.

Nothing too fancy, just trying to simplify and and make it easier, faster, and cleaner.

I may experiment some and leave a few layers attached to the mom, too see what happens to them if she drys up, is stressed, or shocked. We shall see!

-drop

 

[Drop That Sound]

Update: So I underestimated rock wool, it actually dries quickly. I'm guessing I will be watering them more when they start rooting.




This however leads me to a new idea.. A new invention for my garden. An air layer propagation machine!

A full air layering kit of sorts, that can be put into a case and transported anywhere. Everything I need to get the job done.

Basically it will be a res, with a small pump & timer, going to a manifold, with a number of 1/4" lines that run to the air layers. Just like a simple DTW drip system. Including flow adjuster valves, and industrial syringe tips to poke into the air layer medium, to keep them wet.

I could also do a gravity fed I.V. system, with actual medical supplies.. not sure how well it would work, this could get interesting!

 

[SuperBadGrower]

I don't know about thicker stems, but if they are this size, don't even bother removing the outside of the stem. It's a waste of time. Simple never fails:

 

[Robney]

Damn! I tried air layering a couple times, but never thought to use a rapid rooter. That's genius! I'm gonna have to try that soon!